Endless belt for electrophotographic device

Abstract

An endless belt for an electrophotographic device having high degrees of flexibility and wear resistance in a surface portion of the elastic layer is provided. The endless belt for an electrophotographic device, includes a base layer, and an elastic layer which is formed on a surface of the base layer, by using a rubber composition including at least one rubber material and at least one inorganic filler in which the elastic layer has 40-75% by mass of a total organic component, and a product P of an indentation Young's modulus (MPa) α and a fracture strain (%) β that is within a range of 6000-50000.

Description

[0001]The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-177758 filed Aug. 6, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to an endless belt for an electrophotographic device, and more particularly to an intermediate image transfer belt or other endless belt suitably usable for a full-color LBP (laser beam printer), a full-color PPC (plane paper copier) or other electrophotographic device which utilizes an electrophotographic technology.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]In a conventional full-color LBP, a full-color PPC or other electrophotographic device utilizing an electrophotographic technology, an electrically conductive endless belt (seamless belt) is used for various purposes. For example, an intermediate image transfer belt is widely known as an endless belt for an electrophotographic device wherein a toner image formed on a photosen...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0019]The endless belt for the electrophotographic device of the present invention described above comprises the base layer, and the elastic layer which is formed on a surface of the base layer, by using the rubber composition including at least one rubber material and at least one inorganic filler, and which is characterized by 1) 40-75% by mass of a total organic component, and 2) the product of the indentation Young's modulus (MPa) α and the fracture strain (%) β which is within the range of 6000-50000. The endless belt of this invention provides various advantages owing to the inclusion of the at least one inorganic filler to the elastic layer, more specifically, not only improve

Problems solved by technology

Although this configuration assures a sufficiently high quality of the image transferred to the recording medium, the electrophotographic device still suffers from a potential problem of a failure to perform a uniform velocity motion of the recording medium.

However, the endless belts having the elastic layer containing the inorganic filler and other additives have a risk of failure of the elastic layer to exhibit desired physical properties (desired flexibility, in particular), if the contents of the additives (inorganic filler, in particular) in the elastic layer are excessively large.

Described in detail, the endless belts the elastic layer of which has an excessively large content of the inorganic filler have a low degree of flexibility, giving rise to a risk of failure

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